Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Jogger in vest 'mistaken for suicide bomber'

The suspect was ordered to stop running, put his hands in the air and drop everything in his hands as sub-machine guns were trained on his body.

The officers carefully took off the heavily padded vest and searched it, looking for explosives and a detonator.

However, they found the Oxford University PhD student was wearing a training vest loaded with weights for added resistance when running.

Used by the likes of Prince Harry for his Armed Forces trek to the Arctic, the weight vest is becoming a popular exercise accessory.

Iranian student Goudarz Karimi said he was shocked by the police response even after they realised he was not a suicide bomber.

He said he had gone out for a jog on Monday afternoon and then was confronted by the armed response team in Southfield Road, East Oxford.
Mr Karimi said: "They told me 'Stop! Stop! Put your hands in the air. Drop everything you have.'
"The police removed my weight vest and examined it. They started asking questions: 'What are you doing?'
"They said they had a report of someone walking in a bomb suit. There were police cars and the street was blocked."
The 25-year-old was then made to remove the 30kg vest so officers could check it for explosives.
He said that when they realised it was an exercise vest they advised him to remove it to prevent any another call from a terrified member of the public.
"They told me I'd have to take my vest off - I didn't want to provoke anything else and that's why I put my jacket over it.
He said he feared his ethnic origin had sparked the concerns.
"I am 100 per cent sure that if I was blond with Caucasian skin type, nobody would have noticed and said anything about it.
"But I'm of dark skin complexion and from Iran and I'm sure that's related to it," he said.
He said officers advised him not to wear it in the street in future but Thames Valley Police dispute this.
Mr Karimi, who is studying for a PhD in physiology, anatomy and genetics at Oxford University, said: "I felt a bit like my rights were violated. The police told me to take my vest off and to go home and I don't see why I should.
"The point is the first time they stopped me, they asked me not to walk there anymore. They said 'maybe it's better somewhere else, like in a park'.
"Then later, when I wanted to do another round of the block and I was walking near the police car, the police officer said 'You've got to stop.' I said 'I've not finished my work-out' and he explicitly said: 'Take off your vest'."
Mr Karimi said that was when he covered the vest with his coat.
Superintendent Amanda Pearson, of Thames Valley Police, said: "Police received a call from a member of the public who was concerned about a man walking in Southfield Road, with what he thought was a vest which may have contained explosives.
"Officers attended and spoke to the man, who explained he was wearing a weight vest for personal training reasons.
"The vest was checked and officers confirmed this was the case and there was no need for public alarm.
"While I appreciate that in this case being stopped and checked by the officers may have been unsettling to the gentlemen concerned, the officers were responding to a call from a member of the public who had a genuine concern and police are duty bound to investigate any calls of this nature to ensure public safety.
"In order to stop any further calls from members of the public, the gentleman was asked to put his coat on, which he agreed to do.
"There was no legal requirement for the gentleman to put on his jacket and he did not have to do so."
She added: "The officers have to weigh up a number of factors to determine if a stop and search is proportionate, and justified, and the decision to stop and search would not be made on ethnicity alone and wasn't in this case." ends

taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8808124/Jogger-in-vest-mistaken-for-suicide-bomber.html